Fiber Arts Festival

There are a number of arts & crafts guilds in the Albuquerque area.  Every other year they band together and put on a Fiber Arts Festival.

I decided to go today and had a thoroughly good time.  Lots of lovely fiber/textile items to look at.  I bought some fat quarters and saw a friend I hadn't seen in a while. 

Here are some of the fun items that were at the show.  We start with a lovely hooked rug.

Then there were some kooky and fabulous dolls.  This first doll was made by a member of the local doll makers guild.

This next doll is a stunner made by a man named Arley Berryhill who makes dolls professionally.

Of course there were quilts and quilted wallhangings galore.  Some were traditional.

Others were more whimsical.

All in all - a fun way to spend some time at the Fairgrounds.

Papillon

Sundays at Tiffany's

On Sunday I went to see the current exhibit at the Albuquerque Museum.  The exhibit is called 'A New Light on Tiffany:  Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany Girls'.

Charles Lewis Tiffany founded Tiffany & Co.  (Yes, as in 'Breakfast at Tiffany's.)  Later on his son Louis Comfort Tiffany inherited the company.  While C.L. Tiffany concentrated on such things as jewelry, flatware and home accessories, his son was very interested in stained glass.

Several years ago two researchers independently discovered a series of letters and sketches by a woman named Clara Driscoll.  It turns out she was integrally involved in the designing of many iconic Tiffany pieces - including many of the lamps.  So much so that when she married in 1909 and left the company for good, the company's output declined markedly. 

The Tiffany Girls refers to the group of 27 women who were responsible for the color selection, cutting and lead foiling of the glass pieces used in the lamps and other decoratives.  The pieces were assembled and soldered together by a group of men at another location.

Here is one of the lamps believed to have been designed by Clara Driscoll.  It's one of a series of lamps using dragonflies as a motif.

Other motifs attributed to Clara Driscoll include a series of poppies (both red and yellow), wisteria, and an interesting cobweb design, among many others.

The exhibit was very interesting and also very beautiful.  All the lamps were lighted to show the glass.  Plus, many/all of the bases were also created by the crafters at Tiffany's. 

My one and only complaint was the display of about half a dozen pieces.  There were several lamps that stood on pedestals that were just high enough to make the top side of the lamp shades visible.  I'm 5'8" and had a slight problem seeing the top side.  Also there were several hanging lamps that were high enough to make the top side, once again, hard to see.  If they would have lowered the pieces in question by about 4 to 6 inches, it would have made viewing of the pieces easier.

Otherwise it was a lovely exhibit.  It runs through August 21st and I plan on going back for another viewing.

Papillon



Feeling Good

A week or so I was making my weekly trip to Goodwill to see if I could find any good books to read.  One of the books I found was a copy of Horatio Alger's Ragged Dick.  It's been a couple of decades since I last read any of Alger's books so I thought 'what the heck' and bought the book.

When I bought the book I noticed it had markings indicating it was a part of the Albuquerque library system.  I didn't think much about it because libraries periodically cull their files and sell the books they know longer want to keep.  I figure this was one such book.

However, when I got home I noticed there was nothing on the book to show it had been pulled from the stacks by the library.  So I went out on the official city website and checked the library's catalog.  They had the book listed, but also said there were no available copies.  Normally if a book has been checked out, the catalog will show this.  So their notes meant they had no copies in the system. 

So I read the book and then took it to the closest branch library and put it in the book drop-off.  Tonight when I checked, voila!  They now have one copy of the book listed in their records - ready to be checked out.

I'm not sure how the book ended up at Goodwill.  So I did Good will a favor by buying the book and supporting their efforts.  I helped out the library by returning the book so they don't have to buy another copy - saving them money.

I'm feeling good.  Two good deeds in one fell swoop!

Papillon

Books and the Occasional Scammer

Twice a year the Albuquerque Main Library holds a 'clearance sale'.  You can buy as many books as you can stuff into a brown grocery bag - no limit on the number of books or the number of bags.  It's a great deal, especially if you're buying hard covers.  Heck, it's a good deal even if you're buying paperbacks.  This year I managed to fill 4 bags.  Woohoo!  Lots of good reading in my future.

For about elebenty-seven years, the price has been $3 per bag.  However, I guess as the result of inflation and budget cuts, the Friends of the Library decided that, starting with today's sale, the price per bag would be raised to $5 per bag.  They've had this information on their website since the last sale in November 2010.  It was also on signs all over the sale area.

Everything went fine until I went to check out.  There was a nice short line with only one woman ahead of me.  As I get into line, the woman's total comes up on the cash register - 8 bags for $40.  The woman immediately recoils in horror.  Why such a high total?!  The cashier (a small elderly woman) explained the change in price.  The customer immediately went into Evil Cheapskate Customer mode.  She had checked the price on the Internet and therefore the library had 'no legal leg to stand on'.  (I'm not making this up, she actually said those exact words.)  The cashier asked what website Evil Cheapskate Customer (hereafter referred to as ECC) had gotten the information from.  As expected ECC was unable to give her a name.  Instead she kept ranting about how she should be charged only $3 because that's what it said on the Internet.

She was so busy ranting and making life miserable for the very polite cashier that she didn't hear the disparaging  comments that the lady in line behind me and I were making (under our breath) concerning ECC's conduct.  I was also running several very pleasant revenge fantasies in my head.

I did comment to ECC that the Internet is full of erroneous information and is not an infallible source, especially in light of the fact that she'd gotten the information from a website NOT run by the Friends of the Library.  ECC dismissed me with an imperious wave of her hand.

Finally, the woman responsible for the content on the Friends' website walked over and said that their website has had the accurate information since November 2010.  That the Friends are responsible for the information on their website and NOT for any information on a website over which they have no control.  ECC eventually backed off and allowed them to finish the transaction. 

We all breathed a sigh of relief as ECC walked away.  The funniest part - apparently ECC is either incredibly cheap or an incredibly slow learner or is a persistent scammer trying to rip off the Friencs of the Library.  Because the library lady said ECC pulls the same or a similar stunt every single year at every single sale for the past 10 years.  It makes my head ache just to think about it.

Anyway, all's well that ends well.  I got my four bags of books home without giving myself a hernia.  The cat worked his nose overtime smelling all the interesting smells.  There is lots of yummy reading in my future.  Life is good.

Papillon

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

This photo is courtesy of http://www.dailysquee.com/.

Since my mom lives over 500 miles away, I didn't get to spend the day with her.  I called, though, and we had a nice chat.

Earlier in the day, I decided to go to the Rio Grande Nature Center.  They were holding their annual Herb Fest.  It's a pleasant way to spend an hour or so.  The weather was warm, but not too hot with a bit of a breeze.

Lots of animals enjoying the weather.  I got to see a mother Canada goose and her gosling.  I first noticed the mom.  She was on the bank and was bouncing her neck up and down, obviously checking out all of us humans who were checking her out.  It was a few minutes later that I noticed the gosling.  You have to look closely to see the goose - she's in the center of the bottom of the photo in the middle of a bunch of branches.

There were also turtles sunning themselves on a large branch plus some hummingbirds bickering over a feeder.  Here are the turtles:

It was fun listening to a four-person band playing some folk music.  They were good.

A local wildlife refuge had some raptors available to look at - injured birds who have healed but can no longer live in the wild.  The birds were gorgeous - a peregrine falcon, barn owl, burrowing owl and a crow.

All in all, a nice time was had.  I took some photos but all I had was my 35mm camera so will have to wait until I get the film processed before I can post anything.

Papillon